Cauli-whaaaa?

I haven't done a proper blog post in awhile, mostly because my schedule got all out of whack from being off for roughly three weeks. I'm back to the regular show schedule after Tuesday though, so hopefully that means more regular blog posts.

No news about the domain issue... I really haven't done anything about it since my last post. I had lost my patience with the whole ordeal and I'm slowly recharging and waiting for a time where I'm ready to deal with it again. In the meantime though, I've been doing some fun stuff with GIMP, a free program that is a lot like Adobe Photoshop. For example, I made the banner at the top of the screen here, and also at the top of the Ermahgerd! Berk Clerb!'s blog. I also am making Christmas cards, that I can hopefully figure out a way to print before Christmas. Just another hobby, I guess. I have so many! I really need to stop finding new hobbies and work on my fascinator endeavour. But for that, I must get my house clean and organized. For some reason, my work space becomes the catch-all for our dumb crap we don't use. Probably because that is the part of our house least likely to be seen. Sigh.

Anyway, enough of my yammering. I thought I'd talk about one of my favorite vegetables: Cauliflower!

Growing up, I really didn't like cauliflower. I thought it was broccoli's albino cousin that didn't taste nearly as good. But when I started my sordid love affair with the South Beach diet, I needed a legit substitute for carbs and I was willing to try anything. I'd heard about using cauliflower as a substitute for potatoes in mashed potatoes and tried it. When I make mashed potatoes, I usually just estimate the amounts of all the ingredients and do a lot of taste testing. So I did the same thing with the cauliflower. First, though, I steamed the shit out of it. Like, steam them as you would for eating steamed vegetables, and then steam them like twice as long, until it's falling apart at the slightest nudge. And then add milk, butter, and salt, and voila! Mershed curlerflewer! Sometimes I add garlic powder too, if I'm feeling frisky. You could probably substitute greek yogurt or something similar for a low fat option. I think it's a whole lot easier to prepare than mashed potatoes and although it doesn't taste exactly the same or have that fluffy texture, I think they are a damn good substitute.

After I tried those, and loved them, I tried more adventurous recipes, like Cauliflower Pizza Crust. My boyfriend, Brandon and I LOVE pizza. And that was our serious weak spot in our healthy eating plan. So again, I was desperate to find a substitute. I tried a ton of different recipes, and while it tasted good, it was sort of mushy and you had to eat it with a fork... it's not as satisfying as picking up a big slice in your hand and shoveling it into your mouth. After several different tries of several different recipes I finally found the one recipe to rule them all. You can find it here, on the Detoxinista blog, a great blog for healthy living. It is a little heavy on the preparation time, but I think it's worth it. And it's picky-eater boyfriend approved!

The final cauliflower recipe I tried was Cauliflower Bread Sticks. And although I think this recipe is pretty good, it's not amazing and I'd like to try others. It's pretty similar to the pizza crust, and I might try just making the pizza crust without the toppings someday.

In summation, you should give cauliflower a chance. I know I am going to keep scouring the internets looking for more recipes. I challenge you to do the same. And then send me a link. DO IT!